Ok, so I had an idea for a graphic novel series a few months back, called Afterworld. It has nothing to do with DK, although I was decidedly inspired by it. I've hashed out quite a few of the in-universe details and the plot starter, but some of the smaller (and larger) details of plot are eluding me. Really, I don't know how David came up with the Dreamworld canon in the first place. That stuff is TOUGH TO DO. >_<

Anyway, also inspired by CalicoYorki with his(her?) Tale of Criminals and Gentlemen, to force myself to come up with plot, I have decided to make a DK imitation of it, and it is going to be AWESOME. I am renaming this 'imitation' The Fight for Memories.

Of course, it's not going to be true to my original concept in every detail - I especially can't explain away a goodly amount of what I did with the most powerful villains, for one - but with some changes, I still think I can explain away enough to keep the story good without defacing DK canon... too badly. :3

Anyway, I'm going to be posting the story itself in another thread. Just a quick request: I would REALLY appreciate if you readers would post any compliments (yeah, yeah, I know) or questions (or suggestions, actually; I'm not David :P ) in this thread, here, not the one with the story. If you please, of course; I just want all the story chapters kept together.

Wish me luck!

EDIT: I just realized what I'm going to do. I'm going to post some of the story EVERY DAY. That way, I'm held to a schedule, and you get a lot of story. :3

EDIT 2: Someone read the story when there were about 5 posts, and gave me some comments. They weren't laudatory, but the commenter didn't flame it, either.

I decided to post here to clear the air: We can't all be David Lillie. The story here is, to be honest, my first attempt at writing any sort of story. I've only been working on it for a couple weeks, if that, and there is no art to supplement the story. You don't have to love it, but I would appreciate it if you kept this in mind.

Thank you.

EDIT 3: And wow, that did not work out. Other stuff returned with a vengeance. I'm still working on plot points for later, and I suppose I'll post another update if someone PMs me to ask, but I won't be updating regularly.

There is more than one continent in the Dreamworld. Anduruna is on one; Kor-Ban is on another. The latter shares history with Anduruna in that they share the Silent Centuries, although Kor-Ban is composed of several smaller cities, not one big one. However, the dreamkeepers of Kor-Ban actually remember the Nightmares, and they know that they were defeated.

Powers are more than allowed, they're the norm; in fact, dreamkeepers who haven't discovered their powers are treated very nearly like a lower class, with attitudes ranging from superciliousness to disgust, although there are many people who really don't care. As a result, technology is decidedly more medieval in Kor-Ban than in Anduruna; there are no springer rifles, no infoscrolls, and no telepads (although flo-wood seeds wash up on western beaches on very rare occasions, there are no brain squids). However, since diony plants are common to both continents, as might be expected, the cultures share fermentae. Some substitutes for technology have been developed by power users as well.

Disir, the City of Bells, is the setting of Chapter 1. Nicknamed for the extremely large array of alarm bells in the city keep, it has the odd distinctions of being both the second-largest city in Kor-Ban, and the hardest to get to. The continent of Kor-Ban is split into two parts - much like Africa and Asia, in that they are connected by a single isthmus. Kor-Ban is on one half, and nightmares occupy the other. Disir is located on the isthmus connecting the halves; its' function is to keep the nightmares in the other half of the continent, and it fulfills its' function very well; nightmares are extremely rare in Kor-Ban. As such, it sees a lot of combat; if a dreamkeeper wants to train in combat, Disir is THE place to go. However, it is separated from the rest of Kor-Ban by a giant desert and a mountain range; the only route to Disir is a lengthy one that follows the coast.

By necessity, Disir is well-defended. The city proper is structured into the central keep (the first part of Disir to be established, originally a purely military complex) and the Inner and Outer Rings. The Inner Ring houses the political, military, and economic elites, some business centers, and other elements of the upper crust. In contrast, the Outer Ring, larger by far than the Inner Ring, is a sprawling warren of buildings of all types (and integrities). You get all sorts there, from small business owners to criminals to common soldiers, etc. There's not much outside the Outer Ring, as there aren't many defensible locations. However, there is a network of farms in an isolated mountain pass/valley adjacent to the city.

Isaro are meticulously bred fire/air ryuu-neko hybrids. They have wings, and retain fire-breathing abilities. Bred for aerial combat, they are allowed to grow to very large sizes, and are specially trained to let dreamkeepers ride them in flight. They are very intelligent, and can often be quite literally a pain to handle. However, they are incredibly useful in warding off the frequent nightmare attacks that Disir undergoes - no attack has made it into the Outer Ring for 72 years, and the Inner Ring has not been penetrated since the Outer Wall was built, around 800 AD.

With no Nabonidus or Lord Void, more powerful by far than any other nightmare, to be a dictator of sorts, things are somewhat different. Nightmare power structure is less rigidly defined. There was a central, ruling body of sorts, called the Archons, composed of the seven most powerful nightmares to exist there. Relative differences between their abilities were slight, but it was still enough to ensure that the rulers kept their ranks among the Archons. But they were all defeated at the end of the Silent Centuries, and the dreamkeepers of Kor-Ban all believe that the Archons are gone for good, leaving only the inferior nightmares to harass them... Except they're not.

Less than a decade ago, a particularly powerful dreamkeeper styling himself the Winter King resurrected many powerful nightmares through means unknown, and he allied himself with them. Nightmare politics is in turmoil, however; instead of seven, there are now thirteen nightmares vying for rank in the Archons, as a result of the resurrections. Things are settling down, however, and the nightmares are starting to turn their attentions toward Kor-Ban...